A. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to electronic musical instruments, and comprises a musical instrument having one or more pressure sensitive transducers thereon actuable independently of the note selecting elements for varying a corresponding plurality of selected musical parameters (such as pitch, vibrato, etc.) in response to a player's touch. The invention also includes a unique pressure sensitive transducer especially suited to this purpose.
B. Prior Art
Transducers convert one physical parameter into another. Electromechanical transducers convert an electrical quantity into a mechanical quantity or vice versa. For example, a transducer may convert a mechanical quantity, such as force, into an electrical quantity, such as voltage or current.
One type of transducer that is useful in electronic musical instruments is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,784,935, issued Jan. 8, 1974, to Alan R. Pearlman and Dennis P. Colin and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. The transducer illustrated there is an electromechanical transducer of the pressure-sensitive type, that is, an output voltage is produced that is a function of the pressure applied to the transducer by the player. One such transducer is associated with each playing element (key) and thus a large number of transducers are used for each keyboard. Further, the point of application of the pressure on such transducer is fixed and a selectively variable sensitivity is not obtainable.
A strictly position-sensitive transducer has heretofore been used on keyboard instruments, but this again limits the "touch sensitivity" provided to a player, and generally requires visual observation during actuation; it is thus distracting to the player.